What characters do you think are NOT written up to their power level?

[johnnyjam2233]

I think of Silver Surfer as not being written to the level of what his power set is supposed to be. He already has the strength to lift 100 tons but written to move at speeds much much faster then the Flash. Fast enough to easily travel thru time like the Flash has done. Now the Flash, if he's just standing in place has the strength of a normal person, but if he hits someone while he's moving, the kinetic force is so powerful that's his blows have been said to be among any of the heavy hitters in comics. Wonder Woman once said the Hunter Solomon (Zoom) punched harder then Superman did. Well, if you take Silver Surfer with his normal strength of lifting 100 tons, and he hits someone at 10 times the speed of light, then the shock wave should be able to destroy a moon.
Other Characters who I think are under rated are B level characters. Forge, Cypher, and Multiple Man. Multiple can study anything and everything with one of his duplicates, and it will remembered by the prime. Think of studying everything and knowing everything? Forge on the other hand can create anything he thinks of that's mechanical, but he can make mechanical items that make things that are NOT mechanical. Why not something that can give him any power he wants. His brain works on the level of understanding anything so he can't make something to powerful for him either.
Cypher, the language powered mutant, I never looked at the same after I read the Necrosha story where Selene brought him back from the dead. He almost beat the New Mutants single handed because read their body language so he was able to counter their fighting techniques. He read their body language, which was pretty slick by what ever writer was writing him at the time. When the brain uses a language to command the body to do something. I always thought if Cyber could see any character use their power, the language from the brain to the body, he would be able to replicate that.
Speedball, was another character I thought was more powerful then he's been written.

[MichaelC]

Iron Man gets toned down to an astonishing degree when he's in any book but his own.

[SuperiorIronman]

Looking at the sheer amount of things Tony can do or how to approach a problem and his best response (even in his own book) is just shooting a repulsor blast at it is frustrating. It's not a constant problem, but when you note black hole bombs, weapon melting on contact, and liquid metal coffins you'd think there would be some carryover.

Like that guy should be able to tank most people and just..doesn't.

That's not a knock against the character, but Tony not carrying over equipment or just forgetting about weapons and equipment does qualify him for being written out of power level.

[Michael Watkins]

Living Laser is generally displayed as little more than a nuisance. yet he's an unhinged version of Spectrum (who has shown to be extremely dangerous). and don't try to sell me that Lightmaster garbage. Lightmaster can go play in traffic.

[Triniking1234]

RIP Vision.

[XPac]

Silver Surfer is the post boy of this category.

In the general sense, I think characters with super speed are written below their ability. Speed is actually a very very dangerous power, but it seldom comes off as dangerous as it should.

[Hypestyle]

Monica Rambeau.

[Ptrvc]

This is an odd one but anyone with a healing factor of Wolverine quality and up.

They can recover from bullet wounds in seconds but some writer's will still have them get knocked unconscious for some reason, even though they should recover so fast they wouldn't even notice it.

[Sutekh]

Monica Rambeau.

Yes!

The woman can travel at the speed of light. She can go around the entire planet eight times in a second. Even if she couldn't also do a ton of other stuff, that's scary fast, and writers don't seem to grasp that.

Any size-changer using Pym particles also seems to be written as a gigantic jobber, when, due to the square-cube law, they *have* to gain strength and durability to handle the new mass they are gaining. At 'only' twelve feet tall, Hank (or Scott, or Erik, or Tom, or Cassie) need to be eight times as strong and tough, because they are eight times as heavy, and if their bodies didn't become tougher, their bones would splinter, their organs collapse and their muscles rip like tissue paper just trying to support their new weight. At 60 odd feet tall, the height that all four of the size-changers in the War of the Realms Giant-Man mini-series are walking around at, they would have to be *one thousand times as strong and tough*, near Thor levels of strength (back in the Marvel Handbook 'lift 100 tons' days, anyway), and far tougher than diamond or steel.

[Doombot]

Surfer for sure. Also definitely Namor in recent years.

[XPac]

Surfer for sure. Also definitely Namor in recent years.

I actually think in the last year or so, Namor is the most powerful we've seen in decades.

[Glio]

I actually think in the last year or so, Namor is the most powerful we've seen in decades.

Yes, Namor had a bad time when even Luke Cage could beat him UNDERWATER.

In just one year however we have seen him resist an atomic bomb at point-blank range and face Iron Man, Thor, She-Hulk and Captain Marvel underwater with no problems.

[GodThor]

IM, Thor, Surfer, Odin, Monica Rambeau are mostly garbage over the years.

[Crimz]

Ben Grimm the Thing has been treated more like a 50 tonner over the years.

[Snoop Dogg]

Ben Grimm the Thing has been treated more like a 50 tonner over the years.

Slott and Brevoort gonna pull up and save our boy #HulkSchmulk #Petunia>>>Gamma